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DIY: Do It Yourself Post here to share or improve your wrench turning skills! All BMW E46 DIY tips, tales, and projects discussed inside. Learn to work on your car and know the right BMW parts you will need!

I didn't think it would be a good idea to just cut the harness so I just kinda tucked it away into the engine compartment. I just tied it around a brake line or something, i cant remember. What did you end up doing?

Would you be able to discuss the electronics side of this a little more? Was it simple enough to do? Did you have to change a lot of things in the ECU regarding timing/fuel maps and other things or was everything strictly limited to settings having to do with the transmission? Reason I ask is b/c I wonder how feasible this would be on an M56 sulev (auto only and the ECU is different from M54's so there is no performance software out there).

Would you be able to discuss the electronics side of this a little more? Was it simple enough to do? Did you have to change a lot of things in the ECU regarding timing/fuel maps and other things or was everything strictly limited to settings having to do with the transmission? Reason I ask is b/c I wonder how feasible this would be on an M56 sulev (auto only and the ECU is different from M54's so there is no performance software out there).

yeah man, no problem. This is only half of the thread, i still havent made the other half. After I code the car, I will be taking a bunch of pictures and making a coding section of the DIY. This was my main concern when I thought of doing the swap. Without the help of some awesome forum members (you guys know who you are) I would have never gotten my car to start.

When I was researching doing the swap, I could never find actual instructions or information on programming the car, so it's my goal to post up instructions for future people who consider this swap. I was always PMing and Emailing members trying to find out what to do or just get an answer to a question. They were SO helpful, I will always be deeply indebted to them. But I realize that these people have their own lives and i know i probably pestered them all the time. So, im going to take what I learned from them and my research and save them time in the future by compiling a DIY for the forum. It might be a couple of weeks before I get to that though, but i'll definitely let you guys know.

But to answer your question directly, I have not coded my car yet. When I do, I will tell you guys how to do it and I will hopefully be able to explain it a little better. From what I know how to do, coding the car is not terribly difficult. You just need to know the right people and have access to the right equipment. In general, you are just changing the software of your car from an automatic to a manual. There are just a couple of steps you need to take in order to get there.

But as far as your M56 goes, I have no idea how to code that. I just know how to code older E46s, The pre-facelifts. Newer E46s dont have whats called ZCS, they have something more advanced that I dont know anything about. So I'm not the person to help you out on that one, you need to contact jbeurotech or someone of similar stature to answer that question

This is absolutely ridiculous! VERY nice write-up! I haven't seen a DIY this extensive in a long time! Congrats on the manual!

Thank you so much for the kind words! I hope that if anything, you guys can use the parts list and some of the details on the wiring and clutch setup! I was just trying to fill in the gaps between DIYs I've seen and used. enjoy guys! Again, if there is anything I can clarify for you guys or if you just want to know how the car feels, just ask me!

well sort of, my cruise control works just fine. But when you push the clutch in to deactivate cruise, the car thinks its slowing down so it revs up and last time, it revved itself to redline. So from now on, I just tap the brakes to disable cruise but yeah, other than that cruise control works just fine!

Tilt mirror is another story. I havent even thought about it, but if I am thinking correctly, it probably just connects into the reverse switch which is on the side of the transmission. I would think that I would just quick-tap into the reverse light wiring and run the wires to the appropriate DME pinout.

Speaking of my reverse lights... when we were doing the swap I had to wire the clutch switch correctly so I said to hell with the reverse lights, I can wire them later right? I did connect wires to the reverse switch on the side of the transmission and I ran the wires into the "drug storage compartment" in the engine. I have yet to wire the reverse lights into the glove compartment but once I do, i will be sure to include that in the DIY.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnotesdip

im using a m3 tranny with the original clutch and pressure plate will i need an alightment Tool?

I dont know much about M3 clutches but Pelican parts doesnt list the M3 as needing an SAC alignment tool. So I guess it doesnt have an SAC?

hmmm, I must have something wired wrong on the clutch switch or something - my cruise doesnt work nor does the reverse tilt

I have been told that coding would take care of both

reverse lights were easy

you should remove the clutch fan or your car will sound like a plane taking off on and in between every shift....so if you hear lots of fan/wind noise - that is the problem

yeah, I havent coded my car yet and my cruise works perfectly. Wiring the clutch module and clutch switch are very easy if you just have guidance. If you need help, just pm me and ill give you my number.

And I've been hearing that about the clutch fan. I have it on right now and the car sounds just normal. Probably because I haven't been in stop and go traffic to where my clutch fan would even be on. I think Navin323i had his car converted to an electric fan but from what I've gathered, that's very expensive.

i forgot to make a third leg joke, too late now since your driving the car. unless you used the reverse mirror function before i would forget it for now, deal with the important things first. man nice to see someone do something other than make their car look pretty (still important, dont get me wrong). a good DIY is inspiring. are you going to do the diff or is that it for now..

i forgot to make a third leg joke, too late now since your driving the car. unless you used the reverse mirror function before i would forget it for now, deal with the important things first. man nice to see someone do something other than make their car look pretty (still important, dont get me wrong). a good DIY is inspiring. are you going to do the diff or is that it for now..

Thanks! But Diff? My auto already came with the 3.46 diff so I didn't see any need in replacing it. I guess it's the preferred manual transmission diff. It sure does have a lot of highway pull though. Even in 5th gear